journal article·2022-07-01Open access

Probing electronic dead layers in homoepitaxial n-SrTiO3(001) films

S. A. Chambers, D. Lee, Z. Yang, Y. Huang, W. Samarakoon, H. Zhou, P. V. Sushko, T. K. Truttmann, L. W. Wangoh, T.-L. Lee, J. Gabel, B. Jalan

APL Materials· Volume 10· Issue 7

Abstract

We combine state-of-the-art oxide epitaxial growth by hybrid molecular beam epitaxy with transport, x-ray photoemission, and surface diffraction, along with classical and first-principles quantum mechanical modeling to investigate the nuances of insulating layer formation in otherwise high-mobility homoepitaxial n-SrTiO3(001) films. Our analysis points to charge immobilization at the buried n-SrTiO3/undoped SrTiO3(001) interface as well as within the surface contamination layer resulting from air exposure as the drivers of electronic dead-layer formation. As Fermi level equilibration occurs at the surface and the buried interface, charge trapping reduces the sheet carrier density (n2D) and renders the n-STO film insulating if n2D falls below the critical value for the metal-to-insulator transition.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Electronic and Structural Properties of Oxides · Semiconductor materials and devices · Ferroelectric and Negative Capacitance Devices

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Physical and Computational Sciences Directorate, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory 1 , Richland, Washington 99354, USA

Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota 2 , Minneapolis, Minnesota 99545, USA

School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota 3 , Minneapolis, Minnesota 99545, USA

School of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering, Oregon State University 4 , Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA

Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory 5 , Lemont, Illinois 60439, USA

International Business Machines Research–Albany Nanotech Complex 6 , Albany, New York 12203, USA

Diamond Light Source, Ltd., Harwell Science and Innovation Campus 7 , Didcot OX11 0DE, United Kingdom

Funding

U.S. Department of Energy · National Science Foundation · Air Force Office of Scientific Research

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